Sunday, January 22, 2006

Hello my dear friends - I must say, when I learned a few weeks ago that this episode was going to be yet ANOTHER Jack flashback, I was frustrated. But I am happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Hunting Party,' and thought it was actually much funnier than TPTB probably intended it to be...

Most people on the boards thought it wasn't nearly as good as Eko's flashback, that the writing was very poor, and were annoyed that the Lostaways didn't ask more questions to Zeke/Chief Hillbilly. However, the fact that they actually talked to Chief Hillbilly (C.H.) at all was such a surprise to most that that outweighed the annoying aspects of the show.

MICHAEL

This poster summed it up best:"Harrold Perrineau did a good job at looking the part of batshit crazy."

Chief Hillbilly said that Michael will never find them. So who gave Michael the directions via IM, and where is he now?

JACK!BACKS / FLASH!JACKS

Summary of the Jack!Backs in this episode, which revealed very little new information:

Jack is always trying to save everybody.

Jack neglects his wife because he's a crazy workaholic.

Jack's dad disapproves of Jack's actions on several levels.

Jack does NOT save Yanni's European uncle.

Jack "kisses back" the extraordinarily beautiful Italian chick, but of course still does the right thing and walks away and even tells his wife about it just to drive home the point of how "moral" and "right" Jack is always trying to be.

Jack's wife was already cheating on him and leaves his ass anyway.

Matthew Fox displays his incredible crying skills once again.

THE ABSOLUTE ONLY thing I thought was useful from that flashback was fairly major. It was at the end, when she confessed that she'd been seeing someone... someone else. That made me pause and think... 'hmmm.... his wife said she'd been seeing someone... I think I vaguely remember a picture in Desmond's room that caused Jack to do a double-take...'. Tivo to the rescue - thank God I still had 'Orientation' saved. Indeed, there was a picture in Desmond's room in the hatch of Desmond and a woman. The camera paused on it a second, showed Jack looking quizically at it, and then moved on. I of course also paused on it, and can't really tell if it's Sarah (Jack's wife). It's not definitely her, but it's not definitely NOT her, either (figure THAT sentence out!). Whomever it was was kind of shaded in the picture. However, I remember when I watched that episode that I thought it was extremely weird that when Jack confronted Desmond in the jungle, they had this exchange:

DESMOND: You're a doctor, right? There was this girl -- you were worried -- you said, you said you failed her. That was you.JACK: It doesn't matter.DESMOND: Was she okay, the girl?JACK: It doesn't matter.DESMOND: What happened to her?JACK: It doesn't matter.DESMOND: How can you say it doesn't matter?JACK: I married her! [Jack breaks down crying.]DESMOND: Right, and you're not married to her anymore, then?

Huh?I mean, with ALL that has happened to both of them, and with the fact that they had met years before and now were both on Freak Island, isn't there anything else they could think to talk about? Like perhaps, "Hey Desmond, if you think the island is going to blow up if we don't push the button, then where exactly are you going right now?" They definitely had Desmond ask Jack about "that girl he saved" for a reason, and my guess (and this is a spoiler-free true GUESS) is that Sarah will have ended up being involved with Desmond in some way. However, if seems if that were the case, Desmond at least would KNOW that he was dating Jack's ex-wife. Someone on the boards said that she couldn't have been involved with Desmond because Desmond had been on the island for three years, and he would've already been on the island by the time Sarah left Jack. But since I'm still not positive that things are moving in a linear fashion (time warp/loop theory), I wanted to mention this possibility.

Despite the fact that I immediately thought about Desmond, everyone else on the boards thought that Sarah was either having an affair with Jack's dad, or with Gabriela (Italian chick). ?!!?!? I highly, highly doubt either of those two scenarios are going to pan out.

GOOD GOD - I just typed out ALL of that above and then came across this site - this guy has the screen cap of Desmond's pic and thinks that he was with the woman who was supposed to adopt Claire's baby before she backed out (even though that woman was married and with her husband when trying to get Claire to sign the adoption papers). And some people aren't even sure it's Desmond, either. I'm way too confused now and must stop thinking about this - so judge for yourself - you just need to scroll down a little bit once you hit this site:

One last comment on Flash!Jack - his tattoos were airbrushed out. Thus guaranteeing us a SIXTH Jack flackback at some point in the series - the writers have specifically said they will incorporate those tattoos into Jack's story.

SHE'S NOT GONNA TAKE IT. NO! SHE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT!

SHE'S NOT GONNA TAKE IT... ANYMOOOOOOORE.

Jin: I don't need a hat.Sun: [paraphrased]: Yes, you WILL wear this goofy hat.

Don't mess with me...

Jin: "... But Michael's my friend!"Sun: "...And I'm your wife."

BOOYA!

Jin: "I don't like being told what to do."Sun: [paraphrased] "I didn't like being bossed around for 4 years either, you bastard!"

Ooohhhhh, snap!

Sun: 3, Jin: 0

Sun's mad as hell and she's not going to take it anymore! I love it.

LOCKE

Locke served to deliver up one of the recurring themes of the series tonight: free will. The whole "don't tell me what I can't do!" line has been uttered by both Jack and Locke in the past, and now Locke's trying to remind Jack that Crazy!Michael is going to do whatever the hell he wants.

From a poster:

"My favorite conversation was the one between Locke and Jack on the theme of "Who are WE to tell him (Michael) what he can or can't do?" Quite right, Locke. Which brings us to the theme for the episode, Jack doesn't like being told what he should or shouldn't do... not by the Chief of Surgery, and certainly not by the Chief of the Island-billies."

One last point on Locke: we now know why he was calling Hurley 'Hugo' in Season One - he actually saw the manifest and hence also knew Sawyer's real name.

WHAT'S UP WITH GERONIMO JACKSON?

Since Charlie specifically mentioned that he had never heard of this band, you KNOW all of the nerds immediately did all the work for us and researched Geronimo Jackson, and came up with... nothing. The current theory on the boards is that it was actually a high school band J.J. Abrams (show creator) was in or something. Since they specifically mentioned it, I am sure it will play some strange part in the show in the future.

Another poster's comment on that hatch scene (which was my favorite scene of the episode):

"Even though he was only there for about twenty seconds, I loved Sayid. "This music is quite depressing." And then after hearing that 'everybody' had gone to look for Michael: "Who's everybody?" which of course could be translated, "How'd I get stuck with you B-group losers?""

HILLBILLIES R US, AGAIN

The reappearance of Chief Hillbilly, who is referred to as "Mr. Friendly" in the transcripts and the cast list, elicited many comments from the boards:

"Oh, no, Zeke is Rupert from Survivor! Either that or a really lost, disgruntled Santa Claus."

"The Gortons Boatbilly sure is a stickler for manners, isn't he?"

"I've just had a thoughtI They're in a mysterious place. There are polar bears. The guy who seems to run the place is a fat guy with a long white beard who seems to want all the "good" people and children with him, They're at the North Pole! The others are Elves. It all makes sense now!"

"The thing that bugged me about Zeke was that his beard and eyebrows (especially eyebrows) seemed like they might come loose at anytime and fall off. You'd think that they could afford some better hair and makeup artists at this point."

Another totally random, interesting side-note:

"M.C. Gainey played Zeke, who is officially named "Mr. Friendly." For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Gainey's work, he is also the naked guy in "Sideways." "

Here's a very important point that I totally missed while watching the show:

"Zeke quoted Alvar Hanso! Holy shit! is all I can say: (from The Hanso Foundation web site):“From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity. Our most precious gift, without exception, is the desire to know more - to look beyond what is accepted as the truth and to imagine what is possible.” - Alvar Hanso, Address to the U.N. Security Council, 1967"

This point above of course lends credence to the theory that either Chief Hillbilly is Mr. Degroot (U of M research who started the Dharma Initiative, which was funded by Alvar Hanso), or that The Others are the result of the Dharma Initiative's experiments gone awry - they were brought to the island for the experiments, abandoned, and now control the island with the wide array of strange tools provided to them by the hatch stations.

Despite the fact that no one except Locke asked ANY good questions to Chief Hillbilly (Locke asked "How do you know our names?" and got no answer), we did still learn a few things from their encounter.

1) Either there are many Others and they can hide really well, or they have Star Wars-like force field technology along with "Clapper"-ish remote-torch-lighting abilities. I am actually too ashamed to tell you how many times I rewound the scene where Sawyer moved to shot at Chief Hillbilly and instead was grazed himself. I was POSITIVE that he did shoot at C.H., that I heard a "ping!" and that the bullet bounced back at him off of a force field instead. A few others on the boards thought this, too, so I don't feel so bad. But my co-worker CF called me out on the fact that I "just want there to be a force field." Yes, I do! Upon several re-watchings, I still won't totally let go of that hope, but do admit that it's a tad more likely that before Sawyer pulled the trigger, someone out of sight shot something at him and had incredible aim so as to just graze him but not really hurt him. Those same invisible Others must have lit the torches on command, too.

2. Could there be two groups of Others? People have mentioned this before - that perhaps the likes of Ethan and Goodwin were not from the same group of Others as Chief Hillbilly is. Everyone on the boards noticed C.H.'s weird reaction to Jack attempting to suprise him by revealing that he knew they sent a spy, Ethan, into their camp. He was kind of looking like, "What are you talking about?" and then said his "That's an interesting theory" line. Another reason people think that there are two groups is that while Ethan an Goodwin viciously killed people, C.H.'s group never has killed anyone that we know of. They kidnapped Walt, shot Sawyer in the shoulder, fire-bombed the raft, shot Sawyer again when they definitely could have killed any of the Three Stooges, and also let Kate go. If they wanted to kill the Lostaways, they have had several chances and have not done so.

3. Walt is apparently fine, and definitely "a very special boy." A reason to think that Goodwin and Ethan ARE from the same group that C.H. is from is that when Goodwin talked to Ana Lucia before his death-by-spear, he told her that the children taken from her camp were all fine. Meaning that both C.H. and Goodwin are a part of some group(s) on the island that kidnap children, but maintain that those children are not being harmed. The fact that C.H. mentioned again that Walt was a very special boy leads me to believe that they know he has some sort of "powers."

4. Is there literally a line/boundary on the island C.H. doesn't want them to cross? C.H. pointed to the ground and told Jack that there was a line, and that once they cross that line, they will go from misunderstanding to "something else." This had fueled my belief that there literally was a force field. Others on the boards feel that if the Lostaways venture past that point where C.H. was standing, it will lead to the "Exit" from the island because it's all a part of a big virtual reality game. Maybe they realize that bizarro ships and planes keep crashing on the island and just want to claim a section of it for themselves. Who knows.

5. Alex lives. When C.H. ordered Kate to be brought out, he said, "Bring 'er out, Alex!" Of course he must be referring to Danielle's (French Chick's) daughter, Alex, who was stolen from Danielle 16 years ago. But since the Lostaways never tell each other ANY critical information, I'm sure no one will share a debrief of the C.H. encounter with Sayid, who in turn could have told Danielle. Sigh.

6. That was definitely NOT a German accent... but Chief Hillbilly was indeed holding a German gun, specifically a Luger, popular in WW2. That, combined with the fact that Ana Lucia noticed that Goodwin has a 20-year-old U.S. Army knife with him, seems like some sort of clue.

THE KATE HATE RAGES ON

My friend DC emailed me to ensure that I didn't actually want Kate to die - and I must admit to you like I admitted to him: no, I did not actually want her to be taken out by Chief Hillbilly, of all people. However, I am in the minority... Here is a representative sampling of posts related to Kate ruining the Three Musketeers' plan:

"Please, Mr. OtherBeard, please shoot Kate. PLEASE. So that she can get off my TV. I knew Kate would follow them anyway, and I knew she would make things worse. Because that's Kate. The hate for Kate just tripled. "

"I don't usually hold with violence against women, but someone has to slap the stupid right out of Kate. Preferably Mr. Eko (because he's the biggest and strongest on the island). With his 'Jesus' stick. Why is she still alive and Shannon is dead? Right now, Ana Lucia is a dear friend compared to what I feel about Kate. Does she ever contribute anything useful?!!??? I'm not suprised that EL and DM are dating since they play the two most annoying characters on the show."

"Nevertheless... Our favorite morons were totally led into an ambush, and it was painfully obvious and avoidable. I'm back and forth on Kate; in her bank robbery scene she was all ultimate sexy action ninja shoots three guys in a second, but more recently the Marshall was just smacking her around before her ghost horse intervened. Still, I'd guess she'd know enough not to just blunder through the jungle shrieking, like Elmer Fudd hunting wabbits. Is "Miiiiichael!" the new "Waaaaaaaalt!" or what? Shut your face, dumbass, people are trying to kill one another, try to keep your exact location a bit of a mystery, eh?

But here was the best one:

"Dear Locke, Jack & "James,"Thank you for ruining a perfect opportunity to rid my TV and my life of Kate.Signed, Disappointed Viewer"

TRAINING AN ARMY

The final line by Jack, "How long do you think it would take to train an army?", sent chills down many a spine. For those of you fearing this is going to turn really lame really quickly, fear not - I don't think they are going to really spend the rest of the season showing us Lostaways in Boot Camp.

Here are more posts from the boards that show you where the majority of heads are at on this topic:

"Wouldn't it make more sense to ask, oh I don't know, a trained soldier about training an army?"

"Word. Either Jack knows Sayid would tell him it’s a dumbass plan, or this is a lame way for the writers to shove Ana-Lucia down our throats in place of a far better character."

"I 'd like to see how well this army is going to come together. If Ana Lucia is putting it together, though, there might be some friendly fire. "

"Heh, good point about, you know, asking SAYID about training an army. Not to mention... if the Others are watching you closely enough to know all your names, they just miiiiiight pick up on the fact that you're working on a little militia. Just sayin'. "

"Jack is a complete idiot. I can understand why his wife left him. Maybe that's why his father was a drunk, so he could drown out Jack talking. Now he wants to raise a army to fight the Others, with Ana Lucia. That will be the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, or if they do shoot someone, it'll be each other. I got a lot of laughs out of this episode even though I don't think the writers intended that. "

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE, IN WHAT WAS PROBABLY THE EPISODE WITH THE MOST FUNNY LINES IN THE SERIES TO DATE

KATE: Morning.SAWYER: Did you just throw a banana at me?KATE: Couldn't find any rocks.SAWYER [smiling]: There are nicer ways to wake a man up, Freckles.

JACK: [Sawyer walks back to the vault] Hey, what are you doing?SAWYER: What does it look like? I'm coming with you.JACK: You're still on antibiotics.SAWYER: It's a good thing I'm traveling with my doctor, then.

LOCKE [to Sawyer]: Does any of this look familiar from when you were coming back?SAWYER: Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf.

[Jack, Locke and Sawyer use some vines to pull themselves up a steep slope.]SAWYER: Are you sure Mike went this way?LOCKE: What do you ask?SAWYER: Oh, I don't know, Mr. Clean, I probably would have gone around Mt. Vesuvius.LOCKE: Why'd you pick that name?SAWYER: Ain't it obvious? All you need's an earring and a mop.

SAWYER: What do you mean you lost it? [the trail]LOCKE: He's a man, not a boar.

JACK: You don't just lose a trail! You just don't want to find him.LOCKE: Yeah, that's right, Jack. I've been running in the jungle toward the sound of gunfire because I don't care about Michael.

HURLEY: So what do you think's the story with that Libby chick?CHARLIE: The story?HURLEY: She's kind of cute, right? You know, in a I've-been-terrorized-by-the-Others-for-40-days kind of way.CHARLIE: Yeah, there is that.HURLEY: I think I have a chance with her. I mean, it's the classic desert island scenario. If I ever had a shot, this is it.

CHARLIE: Do you think Claire's missed me yet?HURLEY: Dude, it's been a day.SAYID [entering room, hears country music]: This music is quite depressing.

Fan-favorite:SAWYER [to Mr. Friendly]: You and me ain't done, Zeke.

PREVIEWS

Next (this week's) episode appears to be Charlie-centric again (argh!), showing him smashing open a Virgin Mary statue, Locke questioning him on if he's using again, him warning Claire that Aaron's in danger, Claire pushing him away, Charlie cutting something and setting something on fire, a huge fire (not necessarily the same thing Charlie was lighting), and baby Aaron floating around in a basket at sea, and then being taken out of said basket by an unseen person once back on land.

Enjoy it - there's another short break (a repeat of Hurley's flashback, Numbers, on February 1st) afterward again...

Monday, January 16, 2006

Thank you for finding your way to my blog. I dare say this is going to be much easier than dealing with all of the email issues as of late, so I hope this works for you as well. You can find past episode write-ups via the archive links on the right. I am working on formatting them and getting up what I have from Season One as well.

Right now, I am actually in the middle of writing this post (somewhere in the paragraph under "Blowin' Smoke"), but I had to jump back up to the top to say how happy I am that our beloved show just won Best TV Series - Drama. Though it is kind of weird because I think JJ Abrams wanted to give a speech and Damon Lindelof just took over the mic, but whatever. They won, and now I can sleep peacefully tonight rather than plan some sort of revenge on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Yay!

------------------

And now... After 6 weeks of waiting in agony, Lost returned with what nearly everyone on the boards deemed an excellent episode. So without further ado....

...STOP! EKO TIME.

While many people on the boards, including me, had previously thought Eko might somehow be connected to the Nigerian Drug-Smuggling Plane with Faux Priests a.k.a. Charlie's Own Personal Heaven a.k.a. Boone's Deathtrap, no one expected the connection to be quite this tight. Eko was supposed to have been on that plane, and his brother (rest his soul) was on it --- that was a surprise. And except for people who read spoilers, no one thought Eko was going to have been a "bad guy" in the past. But before I go any further, can I just say that the man is HUGE? Damn! Seriously, he is a big guy. It was just more apparent to me in this episode I guess - perhaps from his drug lord flashbacks or from, I don't know, him standing next to Charlie. OK, now that I got that out of the way, there are of course several questions resulting from Eko's flashback that we must discuss:

1) When exactly did the end of his flashback take place?

The number one question I have is: when did the drug plane take off? Was it ten years ago, five years ago, one year ago, or say... 50 days ago? I'm not schooled in corpse decomposition so I have no idea how to judge how long the dead bodies have been on the island, but it's really bothering me. I still am not letting go of the time warp/time loop theory until I have absolute proof that all events have happened in a completely linear fashion. Way back early in Season One, when they found the "Adam and Eve" skeletons in the caves, Jack judged they had been there 40 to 50 years because of the level of disintegration of their clothes. But now since Eko burned the plane, I'm not sure Jack will get a chance to inspect the plane's passengers and make a guesstimate. I think the one faux priest Boone and Locke originally found is somewhere else in the jungle, however. Regardless, I do not think we've seen the end of Mr. Eko's flashbacks (we still have absolutely no idea why he would be in Australia), so until then I guess we are all going to have to wait patiently.

2) How could a plane that small make it from Nigeria to the South Pacific?Another big question, and one that I'm positive TPTB want you to ponder as Charlie mentioned it in a roundabout way during his ultra-annoying rant while Eko was praying:

CHARLIE [while Eko's praying]: He saved your life, huh? Sure, that makes sense. He takes off in a plane in Nigeria -- we're out in the middle of the South Pacific -- that makes all the sense in the world.

One theory: there is some sort of "wormhole" (or perhaps many of them) that leads to the island - enabling either time travel or travel over great distances. Before you dismiss me as a sci-fi dork, consider these things: a) several of the books shown on the show (A Wrinkle in Time, The Third Policeman, etc.) deal with this sort of thing, b) when mapped in order, "the numbers" mark a spot in the Central African Republic, not too far from Nigeria. Perhaps the plane took off, was flying east and encountered this spot and got sucked in and landed on the island, and c) it happened in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," a fine movie that greatly influenced not only how I think but also how I talk - so perhaps it influenced the creators of Lost, too, as they are close to my age. San Dimas High School Football Rules!

3) What did Eko do after the plane took off?

I am going to make a proclamation about the cast of Lost. They are some of the best "non-verbal" actors I have ever seen. Jack and his damn crying, Kate and her expressions of confusion or surprise, Locke during his encounters with Lostzilla, MajorlyPissedSayid giving Ana Lucia the look of death, and now Eko and his eyes flickering with the realization that the police think he is the Real Priest.

So my guess at what happens after that scene is that Eko DOES become a priest (or acts like he's one) and continues that life up until his crash on the island. It looks like he had on some sort of black priest-looking suit when he crashed. He did also tell Charlie that he is a priest. Other evidence: um, no, on second thought, I'm not going to list it all out. If you don't believe me, go re-watch The Other 48 Days and then tell me if you think this isn't a religious dude.

4) Speaking of that, what's up with the stick?

The bizarro spear stick thing that Eko's kept with him on the island has the names of various books of the Bible carved into it, but also the word "hateth" - which probably is some sort of clue. I have perused threads specifically related to the carvings and while I learned quite a bit about the Bible, there really wasn't an overall theory anyone was proposing. I already told you that the writers said the stick is important. How important remains to be seen.

5) Is Eko a "bad" or "good" person?

I'm so confused! Eko originally saved his little brother from being taken by the gang, but he did this by murdering an old man. And because he offered himself up to save his brother, he ended up leading a life of crime and becoming a drug runner, while his brother became a priest. Eko's actions ended up getting his brother killed. We do not know what happened between that point in time and his arrival on the island, but we have reason to think he may have followed a religious path after his fellow gang members deserted him and took off with his brother. On the island, he was trying to save everyone after the crash, brought the dead bodies to shore, did several other commendable things... and then killed two Others. With all of this new information on Eko, I'm not so sure he was actually on the Others' "good people list." More on this topic shortly when we discuss Smokey a few sections below.

6) Coincidence, or fate?

An overriding theme of show has been "is there such a thing as fate or destiny?" Eko's backstory is a prime example of that theme. Eko was supposed to be on the drug plane. He wasn't. The drug plane ended up on the island... But yet Eko still ends up on the island, too. Was Eko's fate/destiny to be on the island, and therefore one way or the other, he was going to get there? Other characters have had similar situations I've covered before.

BLOWIN' SMOKE

I guess I should start out by saying that I actually NEVER thought that what so many people are calling "smoke" on the boards was smoke. I was always thought the "wisps of black stuff" we've seen briefly in the past were nanorobots or clouds of electromagnetic matter or something. Everyone is now calling that stuff Smokey, but although I can't think of a better name, I also can't bring myself to type Smokey over and over again in this or future write-ups, so until I think of something better (or someone else does), I'm just going to call that thing: Black Cloud Thing. Fresh outta creativity this Monday night, sorry.

Now that we actually SAW Eko's staredown with Black Cloud Thing, there are (surprise, surprise) even more questions (besides the obvious - what IS the Black Cloud Thing?).

1) Is Black Cloud Thing the Monster?

Typically, the "Monster"/Lostzilla is preceded by chain-rattling/rollercoaster-ish type sounds and huge puffs of air and trees disappearing. We saw that this time too, but then Black Cloud Thing arrived on the scene. We have actually seen Black Cloud Thing before without all of the hoopla (Jack and Kate saw it in the jungle just whizzing by with no sound). Therefore, I'm not sure that Lostzilla and Black Cloud Thing are one in the same. I still think that Lostzilla could precede Black Cloud Thing in some instances and is truly just working as the "security system," just trying to keep people away from certain things or scare them out of certain areas, as Danielle alluded to. Black Cloud Thing, however, could be the real power on the island. But then again, they could be one in the same, I'm just not sure yet. If they are, then I would like to know how the Black Cloud Thing killed the pilot in the premiere.

2) Was the Black Cloud Thing also what Locke saw in the jungle, or did he see something else when he "looked into the eye of the island" early in Season One?

3) Was the Black Cloud Thing reading Eko's mind?

To my peeps who watched with me at my place, we missed something huge, and I can't believe it. Although we did discuss the possibility that Eko was seeing something other than black stuff, such as something relevant to his life, we completely missed that they did actually show what was in the Black Cloud Thing. However, it was only visible via slo-mo. When the camera panned through the black cloud, there were several flashes of Eko's life shown and you could plainly see them if you paused the show. So the question is - does that mean that the Black Cloud Think was reading Eko's mind and taking in images from Eko? Or did the Black Cloud Thing project the images and Eko was actually seeing them? I think it was the former, and I think the Black Cloud Thing was scanning Eko's past to judge whether or not he was a) good or bad, or b) worth messing with. What is more interesting to me is if the Black Cloud Thing left Eko alone because he thought he was good... or because he thought he was bad...

On to other non-Eko-related topics:

DIE, RANCH, DIE!

I was very disturbed while watching Locke attempt to teach Michael how to shoot a gun. Here's the thing: I really like Ranch dressing. And to have to sit there and watch Locke and Michael just mercilessly shoot a perfectly good container of Dharma Ranch, well... there's just no justification for that. Surely they know that EVERYTHING tastes better with Ranch on it?!?!?!! Perhaps "the sickness" has taken them and they don't realize what they've done. Did they not have Blue Cheese or something? That stuff's nasty.

WALT IN THE MACHINE

Dammit if Michael doesn't have to get on the IM again. He's like me at work. But at least I know who I am IMing with - hey Michael - THAT'S NOT WALT! Why would your son ask if YOU were alone? Please. The funniest part of the episode was definitely when Jack walked in and Michael was like a deer in headlights. The screen going dark once again leads me to believe that whoever is typing to Michael can actually see him and perhaps has some sort of control over the systems in the hatch.

ISLAND LOVE FOR HURLEY

Did I see a little spark between Hurley and Libby whilst they attempted to do whatever it was they were trying to do with that tarp? I believe I did.

HOBBITS GONE WILDOf all people watching the show, LOTR fans such as myself should probably have the greatest patience for Charlie, because a part of us still sees him as happy little Merry. But hear this you writers of Lost - even my patience is waning. Please make him stop being so annoying, I beg of you. Now you're turning him into some sort of heroin squirrel, hoarding away Virgin Mary statues like it was going out of style. What's next, is he going to do that thing that squirrels and hamsters do where they push their paws against their cheeks and spit up tons of little drug packets that he's been storing down his throat? At least Claire finally got some sense.

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE The boards were absolutely AFIRE with love for what is definitely one of the top 5 lines of the entire series, the only reason worth keeping Charlie around right now...

CHARLIE: Uh, I'm lost. It was dark. I was following Sayid. Right afterwards a big bag of rocks fell on my head so I'm sorry if I'm a bit spotty with the geography.EKO: Climb that tree.CHARLIE: What?EKO: Climb that tree and perhaps you will be able to get your bearings or spot the plane.CHARLIE: You climb it. What if I don't? You going to beat me with your Jesus stick?

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Hello and Happy New Year. It has been a long time, no? So long that after watching this episode 3 times AND reading the transcript when it originally aired, I still couldn't really remember the details of what happened, so I had to read the transcript yet again just now. I will provide a quick recap so that we are all on the same page. If you have a better memory than I do, you can scroll down to the next heading in all caps to bypass the recap.

RECAPThe episode begins with a shirtless Jin emerging from his tent, much to the delight of female fans everywhere. He is closely followed by Sun. Hurley gives Jin the thumbs up. Jack is tending to Sawyer's bullet wound in the Hatch. Sawyer is mumbling incoherently about Kate and says that he loves her. Kate is off climbing trees in the jungle, and then sees a random black horse. We cut to a flashback where she helps put some drunk creepy guy named Wayne to bed and then rides off on a motorcycle as the house Wayne is in explodes. She then goes to a diner where her mom is working and there are innuendoes that Wayne is abusive to Kate's mom. Kate also implies that she has done something to take care of this problem and hands her mom an insurance policy and then leaves. Back in real time, Kate takes over watching Sawyer in the Hatch so Jack can go to Shannon's funeral. Sayid makes a lame speech at the funeral. Sawyer is possessed by Wayne and freaks Kate out so she bolts. Jack and Locke find Sawyer sprawled out on the floor when they return. Charlie finds Kate back in the jungle. We get another flashback of Kate trying to escape to Florida via train, but the Marshal captures her. Back in the hatch, Locke finally cuts the d@mn handcuff off of Jin. Michael realizes there are "blast doors" in the hatch.

Jack finds Kate wandering around confused in the jungle. They kiss and then she runs away looking all horrified. Back in the hatch, Michael, Eko and Locke watch the Dharma Initiative tape. Kate is now by Shannon's grave. Sayid tells her that he saw Walt. In another flashback, we see the Marshal and Kate in a car that swerves off the road after nearly hitting a... drumroll please... black horse. Kate takes this opportunity to kick the Marshal out of the car and drive off, thus beginning her life as a fugitive. Back in the hatch, Michael starts checking out the vast computer system, while Eko schools Locke on the story of Josiah and the Book of Law. He then passes Locke the Bible he found in Hatch Lite and we see that there is a cut-out holding a roll of film in it.

We go back to Kate's flashback and see her visit her dad in an Army office. Her dad knows the Marshal is looking for her. Kate tells her dad that in the process of making a scrapbook for him for his birthday, she realized that he could not be her biological father, and that she therefore knew that Wayne was. Her father confirmed that this was true. Back in real time, Kate whispers to Sawyer about how he reminds her of Wayne and how that disgusts her because she's attracted to him. Sawyer wakes up and thinks they've been rescued because he hasn't seen the Hatch before and is confused by the fact that he's in a bunk-bed. He is dismayed to find out they are indeed still on the island and makes several humorous comments on the subject. It should also be noted that Sawyer's hair is utterly wacked out. Both Sawyer and Kate see the black horse in the jungle, so it was not a figment of Kate's imagination. Kate pets the horse and then it runs off. Meanwhile, Jack and Ana Lucia waste precious alcohol on the beach. Back in the hatch, the episode closes with Eko and Locke watching the newly spliced video - which pretty much still doesn't say anything we haven't heard before. It just reiterates that they shouldn't use the computer for anything else other than entering the code... and if they do, it could result in another "incident." While in the other room, the computer starts beeping even though the clock is only at 51 minutes, and Michael basically starts instant messaging on the computer:MONITOR: Hello?MICHAEL [typing]: Hello?MONITOR: Who is this?MICHAEL [typing]: This is Michael. Who is this?LONG DRAMATIC PAUSEMONITOR: Dad?Around the country, viewers simultaneously gasp one of three things: 1) "Whoa." or 2) "Say whaaaaaaaa?" or 3) "D@mn this show for not being on again for 6 weeks!"

On to episode comments...

R.I.P. SHANNON RUTHERFORDNot only did we finally say goodbye to Shannon, but we also bid adieu to the total lack of chemistry that was "Shayid" (a term created by the crazy boarders, which is just as good as TomKat or Brangelina, don't you agree?).

KATE - SMOOTH CRIMINAL? OR: EVEN MORE DADDY ISSUESI have mentioned before that several characters have "daddy issues," (Jack, Locke, Walt, baby Aaron, Sun, to name a few) and now we can add Kate to that list as well.

Moving on to the big event covered in Kate's flashback... I'm probably going to create a few enemies with this statement, but I really don't think what Kate did was THAT bad. I mean, if I'm supposed to believe that she is this criminal mastermind that's been on the run for several years, I really was expecting her Original Crime to be something just totally insane that had no justification whatsoever. There had been such build-up to it. But attempting to put an end to her mom's suffering by blowing up a house that just so happened to have her alcoholic, abusive stepfather/actual birth father in it? I was underwhelmed. Somehow in the years that followed she became skilled enough to coordinate bank robberies and elude Federal agents and local police, as well as clever enough to create disguises for herself and still keep in touch with whoever it was that sent her the letter in "Born to Run" telling her that her mom was in the hospital?... it just doesn't add up.

But there is a much bigger, darker side to Kate that we learned about in this episode, according to this message board post: "I think the most shocking aspect of Kate's backstory was that she is a scrapbooker. That speaks volumes."

In all seriousness, you should read this very detailed profile on the character of Kate, which pieces together everything we know about her so far in chronological order. Then at the bottom you will see links to the other characters' profiles. I was getting all excited thinking that I could quit working for The Man and get a job writing Lost character profiles for Wikipedia until I realized it is by and large run by volunteers. : (

KATE-JACK-SAWYER LOVE TRIANGLESo now we know that Kate feels that since Wayne is her birth father she herself will never be "good," and therefore is not "good enough" for Jack in her mind. Yet she will also not allow herself to follow through on any attraction to Sawyer because he reminds her too much of Wayne. Well then I see no more purpose for her on the show. However, since I don't think she's going anywhere any time soon (and since Ana Lucia has taken over as my Most Hated Character), I will say that I think this whole concept of "good people" is playing and will continue to play out since apparently The Others only kidnap those who they think are good as we saw with The List in "The Other 48 Days," and since it was also a theme in this episode.

SAWYER/WAYNEWas Sawyer somehow really possessed by Wayne? If yes, then at what point did the possession begin? Was it Sawyer talking about Kate when he said "Where is she?" and "I love her" at the beginning, or was he talking about someone else from his past that we don't know about yet? Or was he already Wayne at that point? Was he ever really Wayne and did he ever really say "Why did you kill me???" to Kate, or was that all a hallucination much like Jack seeing Zombie-Dad? I have no answers for you, only questions. Sorry.

BLACK BEAUTYThere was much discussion on the boards about what exactly the black horse represented, if anything. Boarders pointed out that the black horse represents famine in the Bible (one of the four horses of the Apocalypse). Somehow I do not see the connection there with this episode. More logical theories are that the horse represented "innocence" or "hope" or was Kate's savior in some way. Other people thought that perhaps Kate willed the horse into existence as it saved her before in her life and she needed help again now. This could be a possibility as we think we've seen happen on the show before (Walt willing the polar bear into existence, Jack willing Charlie back to life, etc.).

BLAST DOORSHere is my prediction: At some point, the blast doors are going to go down - and some people will be trapped inside. Extremely creative thinking on my part, I know.

I'LL FORGIVE YOU IF YOU MISSED THIS ONEBecause I did, too - and I KNEW it was going to be there (sometimes I can't avoid spoilers)! Sayid was on the TV monitor when Kate went to visit her dad in the Army office. I have seen it blown up and from slightly later screen captures - it's definitely him. We have not seen this part of his history in his flashbacks yet, but I am pretty sure there will be another Sayid flashback coming up soon.

WHAT ABOUT POOR EX-MUTE CHICK?I just wanted to point out that no one has thought twice about the fact that Cindy disappeared into thin air the previous day. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

LOCKE AND EKOI have to admit that I was a tad worried when Eko started telling his story to Locke, because if they turned him into some religious fanatic I was going to be mad. But it was all good, thankfully. Everyone is loving the Locke and Eko interactions... I hope TPTB (the powers that be) don't turn them on each other.

Regarding Eko's big line of the night, "Don't mistake coincidence for fate" - people were divided as to what he actually meant by this. The best way I could sum up the debate was that the general consensus was that while both Locke and Eko of are a similar nature and therefore aren't going to be in opposition as much as, say, Jack and Locke are, that Eko has more true spiritual faith while Locke is believing in the Island and fate. Some people thought, as I did, that when Eko was telling the story to Locke before he revealed the hidden film, it was actually meant to serve as kind of a warning about worshipping "false idols" as Locke is kind of worshipping the island.

ORIENTATION VIDEOThere was controversy amongst the nerds on the boards who claim that Dr. Marvin Candle (the narrator of the Orientation video) looked different in the spliced footage, so that therefore that footage was not meant to be part of the Station 3 video that Locke was watching, but rather another video in another hatch (supposedly there are 6 stations across the island). I have seen the comparison - the biggest difference to me is that his hair is parted differently.

Here is where I need to wonder: are people reading too much into this? The producers of this show are only human - they probably shot the extra scenes later and didn't exactly match up everything exactly. But then again - this is Lost - and TPTB are smart and KNOW everyone examines every little detail... so were the slight differences in Candle's appearance on purpose? Once again, no answers for you.

CLARIFICATION ON THE COUNTDOWN CLOCKAccording to some posters on the boards who I definitely trust, the clock only counts minutes until it gets down to 4 minutes and the buzzer starts going off. THEN it starts also counting down seconds. So the clock did not "freeze" at 51 minutes at the end of the episode when Michael noticed the message like many people (including me) thought.

GHOST IN THE MACHINEWho knew that really old computers had instant message technology loaded onto them? This had to have been the beta version of AIM or something. Regardless, the "Dad?" at the end WAS freaky and definitely a surefire way to ensure viewers return after the 6-week hiatus. This is yet another example of why I am so glad I'm not into the hard-core spoilers anymore because several people on the boards knew that scene was coming and therefore it was no big surprise to them. After my initial shock, all I could think was that you KNOW at the very last shot of the episode Michael was pursing up his lips to once again yell his trademark"WAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!"

A few of the posts on this subject were so hilarious to me that I had to pull them into the write-up because I know not everyone has time to read the boards, and I thought that all should be entertained, so here are the top three:1)"It would have been funny for Michael to type: "OMG!!!! WALT! WTF!!!"

2)>: OMG WALT IZ THAT U>: YEA DAD ASL PIRATES TOOK ME LOL LOL LOL"

3)"Love that the Others look like something out of "Deliverance" and don't wear shoes, but they have e-mail. WTF?"

So the question at hand is just that... Is it really Walt typing, or is it The Others? Or someone else? And what is going to happen now that Michael broke the "do not use the computer for anything else but entering the code" rule? I really have no idea on this one. I find it hard to believe that Walt is just hanging out somewhere else playing on a computer, and find it more likely that they are somehow being watched and that someone is playing with Michael's head. What will be interesting to me is if Michael tells anyone about it. If he does and the word gets spread around, will Sayid (or now Kate) tell Michael that Sayid thinks he saw Walt the previous day? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE:Locke: Hello again.Eko: Hello.

EKO: I have something I think you should see. If you don't mind, I will begin at the beginning. Long before Christ the king of Judah was a man named Josiah.LOCKE: Boy when you say beginning, you mean beginning.

KATE: [after long speech to 'Wayne' who she thinks is inside of Sawyer]... And every time that I look at Sawyer -- every time I feel something for him -- I see you, Wayne. It makes me sick.SAWYER: [finally wakes up] That's about the sweetest thing I've ever heard.

LOCKE: ...I mean, think about it. Somebody made this film. Someone else cut this piece out. We crash -- 2 halves of the same plane fall in different parts of the island -- you're over there, I'm over here. And now, here's the missing piece right back where it belongs. What are the odds?EKO: Don't mistake coincidence for fate.

NEXT EPISODE: 1/11/06Remember when I said I'd heard of two different things that the next episode could be about? Well from the look of the previews, I think one of them was right. I believe the first episode of 2006 will be entitled "The 23rd Psalm" and will be the highly anticipated Eko flashback. For you heathens out there, the 23rd Psalm is the "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" one, which at the very least you should've recognized from Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" because they played it approximately every 11 minutes in 1995. From the scenes shown, it appears that Eko will face The Monster. I will only say this: IF THEY DARE KILL OFF EKO.... well..., ok, realistically, I will still watch the show, but I will have to at least organize a sit-in or something. I will not tell you what the other thing was I heard the episode could be about, in case they do it in the future.

Finally, I'm kind of mad at the writers for not showing us the initial words between Jack and Ana Lucia after they met in the jungle, or the first reactions of the original Lostaways to seeing the person who just killed Shannon. Cop out.

HE WAS ROBBEDGolden Globe Nominations for Lost:Best DramaBest Actor in a Drama (Matthew Fox/Jack)Best Supporting Actor in a Drama (Naveen Andrews/Sayid)WHAT? NO TERRY O'QUINN/LOCKE NOMINATION???? I DEMAND JUSTICE!!!!!!